This article was originally published in Canadian FundRaiser

David Ogilvy founded one of the world’s most successful advertising agencies – Ogilvy & Mather. But he did more than create some of the world’s greatest ads. For many years he was on the board of World Wildlife Fund and any WWF office around the world enjoyed a standing invitation that his agency would do all their advertising for free. In Canada, WWF is still making use of this generous offer.

Looking back on his career, he said that one of his passions was direct marketing. His passing got me thinking about why direct marketing is so powerful and why it underpins the fund raising operations of many of Canada’s most successful charities.

Two well-known direct marketers, Bob Stone and Pete Hoke, define direct marketing as: “An interactive system of marketing which uses one or more advertising media to effect a measurable response and/or transaction at any location”.

Like David Ogilvy, I am in love with direct marketing. Here, in no particular order, are 13 reasons why. Direct Marketing is:

• Simple. It’s just people talking with each other – for the ultimate benefit of both.
• Measurable. No need to wonder if the program is a success or failure. You will find out – and usually quickly.
• Personal. While the seller can craft the offer, the customer is in control of the transaction. When an unsolicited piece of mail comes from a hopeful charity, customers can respond (or not!) – on their time and on their terms.
• Smart. It takes into account past activity and it learns as it goes along. This is why people keep databases.
• Testable. Some things work and some things don’t. Every offer can be improved.
• Intelligent. It is based on research and knowledge not on bias and opinion.
• Practical. In direct marketing, everything, including creativity, plays second fiddle to results. It may look great to put a coupon in the middle of a page but it simply won’t work!
• Cost effective. Direct marketing clearly shows you how profitable (or unprofitable!) your activities are. From there, it is simply a question of how much you would like to invest.
• Everywhere. We are bombarded by it all the time. And we can find out what works and what doesn’t. And if it works, we can “steal” it!
• A master of disguise. It can be a newspaper, a brochure, a letter, a phone call, a person at your door, a TV show, a radio program, an Internet site, a billboard, a movie screen, even a dirigible!
• A loyalty-builder. It allows us to identify and work to continually delight our best customers.
• Empathetic. What does your customer want? How does your customer feel? Direct marketing is not about the product, it’s about the customer.
• A problem solver. It is about solutions, not about products. Don’t tell me what your product does. Tell me what it does – for me!

Of course there are many more elements that make direct marketing such an attractive technique, and as if that weren’t enough, the Internet is about to open up a whole new world for direct marketers!

David Love is a principal with Stephen Thomas Consulting, For more information, call him at (416) 690 – 8801 x 238, or eMail meadow@idirect.com.